Two managers with close history set to clash at Keepmoat

Peterborough United travel up the A1 to face Doncaster Rovers on Saturday in an intriguing fixture that sees the two managers in opposite dugouts to when the two sides met in the corresponding fixture thirteen months ago.

Darren Ferguson returns to the Keepmoat for the first time since resigning as Rovers boss last summer while Grant McCann comes up against the club for whom he made close to two hundred appearances as a player and more than one hundred as a manager before being sacked nearly a year ago.

Ferguson has just taken over for his third spell at the Posh having enjoyed success there in the past, winning the League One play-off final in 2011 with McCann wearing the captain’s armband.

Indeed, speaking ahead of the game, McCann was keen to stress the positive impact Ferguson has had on his career. He told the Doncaster Free Press that “I probably played the best football of my career under Darren when he came to Peterborough.”

“And he had a huge part to play in my coaching as well, putting me into coach the U15s as part of my last contract that I signed there.”

Ferguson was equally complimentary about McCann, telling Peterborough Today that he was “not surprised Grant has been successful either. When he was playing for me, I always suspected he would become an excellent coach, and I knew he wouldn’t be afraid to make difficult decisions which every manager has to do.“

“Me and Grant go back a long way. He was an outstanding player for me at Peterborough. He scored in both legs of a play-off semi-final and then in the play-off final when we won promotion to the Championship which shows an impressive big-game mentality.”

Both managers will be putting the pleasantries to one side for ninety minutes in a crucial game for both their promotion hopes. Peterborough sit one place and two points above Doncaster in the final playoff position having played two games more.

Ferguson remained confident that whatever the result, the two men would stay on good terms;

“Whatever happens on Saturday I’m sure me and Grant will have a glass of wine together.”

Our View

Should be a great game this in front a big crowd with the Posh set to take considerable support to South Yorkshire. Doncaster are in good form while Peterborough have not had the immediate bounce they would have hoped for when Ferguson took over, drawing their last three games.

I expect McCann to be the happier of the two when they sit down for that post-match drink.